Print On Demand (POD) Publishers

One of the things I recommend to authors is that they chose an on-line publisher that does all that
(listing) work for them. As you know, a listing with Ingram & Amazon can really help generate
sales for an author. While most offer this as part of their "package" there are a few publishers who
do not hold ISBN's for authors and consequently won't list them or assist them with the
distribution of their books.

Getting listed is a good first step, but the rest is truly up to the author. One of the problems with
these on-line publishers is that they haven't managed the expectations of the author correctly.
Authors send them their books thinking they've done all they need to do - the fallacy that exists of
course is even if you're published traditionally you still can't sit on your laurels waiting for the
royalty check to roll around. One of the reasons I started my classes and wrote my book was
because I felt there was a really need out there for authors to know what they were getting into
before they sent of their book(s). By understanding the process and some of the challenges POD
brings with it, they can make educated choices and (possibly) save thousands of marketing dollars
in the process.

Some of these publishers do offer marketing packages. While they are good to kick-start a
marketing campaign, they are only one step in a long process of staying in the forefront of a
designated market. Authors need to expect to take the ball once the publisher has finished their
process and continue running with it as long as they wish to sell their books.